Mad Brit Diary

Hooliganism is back in England and going high tech.

(Friday, August 29, 2003) -- After a short period of health, sadly the English disease is back. Hooliganism is rearing its ugly head again in English soccer.

A new breed of young troublemakers, armed with cell phones and organized though web site chat rooms, are being recruited by veteran thugs and their "firms." Let get it straight. All you so called "bovver boys " out there who pick on the innocent are spineless cowards. You wanna take on the Mad Brit, whose wife is 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, then just come on.

While Americans like to gun each other down -- Baltimore City with a population of 600,000 racks up 300 dead each year -- the English are advanced in the art of thuggery. You are more likely to be mugged in London these days than New York City or Los Angeles. Alas, bullying and thuggery are often the national pastime of those Mad Brits who have allowed their moral compasses to veer off course. Remember, soccer originated from a load or ruffians chasing after a pig's bladder from village to village.

The English Home Office reported recently a 19 percent increase in the number of football-related arrests last season. There were 4,793 arrests in total in England and Wales, compared with 4,035 the previous year. Those arrests are a mere 0.01% of the 33 million that attend games each year. Still, fans should be able to watch games in peace. The worse soccer gangs or "firms" are connected to clubs such as Cardiff City, Millwall, Stoke City, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United.

A Home Office spokesperson said the rise in soccer crime reflected "lingering domestic football disorder problems with indications of an emerging new generation of troublemakers." The Mad Brit reckons it's all that Cadbury milk chocolate those spotty kids eat. Early this year in April, 400 thugs battled with police at England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey in Sunderland. Some of those morons are planning to disturb England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Liechtenstein in Manchester on September 10.

Just let them try coming to the Bronx or inner-city Baltimore. Most of the violent actions at English games are caused by a small, organized criminal element. Most fans are avid soccer enthusiasts who pay a great deal of money to see their teams play and have never heard a Slade album. But mingling amongst them is a hardcore army of thugs whose sole purpose is to create havoc wherever they go. The actions of this violent minority unfortunately make all English fans look bad and it's hard at times for police to differentiate between good and the bad Englishman.

The Mad Brit faced skinhead hooliganism head-on in a London subway many years ago in the early 1980s. It was a very scary thing. At the time, hordes of drunken Englishman were pillaging Euston Station in London (as well a the city centers of major European towns). The skinheads smashed a bottle over the head of the man standing next to the Mad Brit, who could barely move while holding two suitcases. The Mad Brit amazingly escaped unharmed from the drunken louts, whose real goal was a poor Pakistani or Indian young man, who was holding them at bay with a long knife. Ironically, a policeman was trying to disarm the Asian man while keeping the skinheads from attacking him. The Mad Brit could only think: "This policeman needs a gun."

If you want to understand the whole soccer hooliganism phenomena a good start is to read Bill Burford's disturbing book on soccer violence, "Among the Thugs," published in America in 1992. Burford, an American writer, spent eight years traveling and chronicling his exploits with some of England's nastiest soccer hooligans. Burford discovered that many of the hooligans appeared on the surface as regular people holding down regular jobs -- one of the thugs was even a lawyer -- but their interest in soccer was secondary to their desire to experience what the hooligans call "going off," an act of violence against the opposing team's town or city.

Burford writes of an episode in Turin, Italy, in the late 1980's where a small, highly organized group of English thugs, using nine-year-old boys as lookouts, ran wild through the streets, beating up anyone and anything in their path, only to disperse when police arrived, and regroup when they leave. After the rampage, the hooligans discretely made their way back to their hotels to mingle with the bona fide soccer fans.

Many of the hooligans Burford met had criminal records, but were able to travel abroad and avoid police detection with help from a clandestine network of contacts, including unscrupulous travel agents and ticket scalpers. "They were members of something exclusive -- a club, cult, firm, cultural phenomena, whatever it might be called - and they valued its exclusivity," Burford wrote.

The writer says the thugs would plan ahead of time to meet at certain games where they would be given instructions by one of the hooligan leaders. Burford joined Manchester United's notorious Red Brigade gang, whose reign of terror finally came to an end in a pitched battle with police at a World Cup game in Sardinia, Italy.

Burford himself felt the heavy end of a policeman's nightstick. A third of the way through Burford's book, the line between thug and thug-watcher begins to blur. Burford is stunned to find himself enjoying the violence and recalls a street fight with rival Chelsea fans as "an experience of absolute oneness."

English clubs were banned from playing in the lucrative European tournaments for five years in 1985 after Liverpool supporters were involved in the disaster at Heysel Stadium in Brussels where 39 fans were killed after a crash-barrier collapsed. The deaths of 95 people, crushed at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989, only reinforced British soccer's bad image.

Soccer violence declined for a while, and let's not forget that at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, England's national team won the award for fair play, and the fans took note.

American soccer lost a hero this week with the death of Clive Charles, the men's and women's coach at University of Portland.

Charles was a kind and inspirational man. At Portland he earned a combined record of 439-144-44, and producing star players such as American World Cup goalkeeper Kasey Keller and American national-team women stars Tiffeny Milbrett and Shannon MacMillan. It was Charles, an Englishman, who encouraged Keller to test his skills in England. Keller is now the keeper at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.

Charles also coached the 2000 United States men's Olympic team and was Steve Sampson's assistant at the 1998 World Cup in France. "I definitely owe my career and where I am today to that man," MacMillan said. "I didn't really have a lot of confidence when I came to Portland, and he helped me become a happy, confident person."

Last year, Charles led the Portland women to win the NCAA championship, the first Division 1 title in the school's history. Charles played in the English First Division with West Ham United and later at Cardiff City before coming to the U.S. to play in the North American Soccer League with the Portland Timbers.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000. Charles is survived by his wife Clarena, son Michael and daughter Sarah. He was 51.

In the final analysis, the FIFA Under-17 championship in Finland was "much Adu about nothing" . With all the hype over U.S. 14-year-old sensation Freddy Adu, the American team might have lost its focus on the real goal - winning the Cup!

Adu did score four fine goals, but the team could only manage a 2-2 record and lost to Brazil 3-0 in the second-round for an eighth place finish. We were told by some experts that this was the best youth side ever, but after a 6-1 victory over South Korea and a very close 2-1 win over Sierra Leone, the Americans lost 2-0 to Spain and were then sent packing by Brazil. Still, eighth place was better than the 0-3 finish at the 2001 event in Trinidad & Tobago, but no where near as good as the 1999 finals in New Zealand where Landon Donovan led the team to a 3-1-2 record and a fourth-place finish.

Adu might be good, but he has yet to prove he can carry a team like Donovan did. Spain, a 3-2 winner over Argentina, and Brazil, which defeated Columbia 2-0, will meet in the championship game Sunday.

The Mad Brit is sorry if he killed some letters in the recent virus worm attack. It was hard to find the good amidst the hundreds of fake e-mails.

Justin Van Hook writes: "I just wanted to respond to this guy that keeps slamming on DaMarcus Beasley. I'm not sure if we're watching the same player. This kid has got skills. His performance against the Colorado Rapids. . . was spectacular to say the least, one goal and one deflection that was called an own goal. His dribbling skills remind me of some of the better known Brazilians and his passing will come along. Remember how young he actually is. It is players like Demarcus, Landon Donovan and Taylor Twellman that are taking American soccer to new levels of success. Spain would be lucky to get a player of Beasley's caliber

Tim Doyens says: "Have you seen Evan Whitfield with the Chicago Fire? He seems to play every minute of every game without any positive impact. Apparently, Major League Soccer wants speed and nothing else in young American players, I can't see how this guy gets any time at all. I wouldn't give him any with my over-30 club here in Atlanta. It seems odd to me that a young man who cannot trap, cannot settle the ball into his run, can't one-touch pass or make a pass when he has the ball "under control," could get paid to play the game. I really have enjoyed your column for a long time and look forward to your take on Euro 2004.:

RDesertMountains says in reference to Freddy Adu: "Why would MLS want to take a Man. United trainee when it can own him and make tons of money when he turns 17 or 18 by selling him to a European team. Also, Mad Brit, unless Freddy's Mom moves with him , FIFA rules don't allow for non-European Union players to sign either professional or trainee contracts, The two players who play for (the U.S.) U17 team for Man. U. have EU passports, and that's why their move to (the Manchester) trainee camp is no biggie.

Andy Thurston says: "Refreshing to read a column from America which actually makes sense when you read it! An interesting perspective too -- I especially liked your 'Ronaldo' piece. I'll be tuning in regularly. Keep up the good work."

Heard a rumor, have a gripe or a tip? Feeling lonely? E-mail the Mad Brit at themadbrit3@aol.com.